21ST Century Literature

From the Philippines

and the World
Literary Periods
  A body of written works
 Originated from oral traditions
 Imaginative works
What is  Deals with prose and poetry
literature?  The content depends on the author.
 Portrayal and/or interpretation of human
experience
 An art form and style of expression
Literary Periods
Pre-Colonial Period
BC - 1564
  This existed before the Spanish
occupation in the 1500s.
 It is oral in nature and is full of lessons
Pre-Colonial and ideas about life, its blessings and its
Period consequences.
 It contains ideas from birth to the grave.
 Its oral characteristic gives the possibility
for many alterations.
  In the Philippine context, no matter how it
may be considered as altered, pre-colonial
Pre-Colonial literature is still revered to by many
Period Filipinos.
 The sources are usually the local native
town folk.
 Oral Literature

 Riddles
Folk Songs
 Proverbs
 Oral Literature
Forms of  Folk Tales
Lullabies

Literature Folk Tales

 Folk Songs
Drinking Songs
Love Songs
 Myths Songs of Death
 Legends Religious Songs
 Fables
 Epics
 Riddles (Mga Bugtong)
 These are statements that contain
superficial words, but they function
Oral figuratively and as metaphors, and are
Literature oftentimes in the form of questions.
 These demand deeper answers
 Deals with everyday life
 Riddles (Mga Bugtong)
 These usually have mundane things as
Oral Literature answers.
 This is used in the past as a form of game
in small or large gatherings.
 Examples:
Bisaya
“Baboy sa lasang, (A wild pig in the forest)
Ang tunok puro lansang.” (Is covered with spikes)
Answer: Nangka (Jackfruit)
Oral Literature
Chabacano
“Tagia que tagia, (You keep on slashing it)
Hende ta penetra.” (But it does not penetrate)
Answer: Agua (Water)
 Proverbs (Mga Salawikain)
 These are statements that are considered
as wise.
Oral Literature  These are usually given by parents or
elders of the community.
 There is a belief that experience is the
best teacher.
 Examples:
Mandaya on “virginity”
“Yang ataog aw madugdug, (An egg once broken)
Di da mamauli.” (Will never be the same)

Tausug on “secret affairs”

Oral Literature “In lasa iban uba, (Love and cough)
Di hikatapuk.” (Cannot be hidden)

Ilocano on “guilt”
“Ti agutak, (He who cackles)
Isut nagitlog.” (Laid the egg)
  These are folk lyrics that are usually
chanted.
 These usually contain ideas on
aspirations, hopes, everyday life and
expressions of love for loved ones.
Folk Songs  It is bounded by the learning of good
morals.
 It is easy to understand because it is
straightforward and not figurative in
nature.
 Lullabies
 These are locally known as Hele.
 Sung to put babies to sleep
Folk Songs  The content varies but usually they are
about how hard life is and how parents
hope that their child will not experience
the hardships of life.
 Drinking Songs
 These are locally known as Tagay.
 Sung during drinking sessions
Folk Songs
Religious Songs
 These are songs or chants that are usually
given during exorcisms and thanksgiving
during good harvest.
 Love Songs
 To many Filipinos, these are known as Harana.
 It can also be called as courtship songs.
 Used by young men to capture the heart of the girl
they love.
Folk Songs
Songs of Death
 These are lamentations that contain the roll/list of
good deeds that the dead has usually done to
immortalize his/her good image.
 Example of a lullaby:
Ilocano
Maturog, duduayya (Go to sleep, dear little one)
Maturog kad tay bunga, (Will my child please sleep)
Folk Songs Tay lalaki nga napigsa (This strong boy)
Ta inton dumakkel tay bunga, (So when the child grows
big)
Isunto aya tay mammati (He will obey)
Tay amon a ibaga me. (Everything that we will say)
  Mga kwentong bayan
 Stories of native Filipinos
 These deal with the power of nature and
submission to a deity (Bathala), and how this
Folk Tales deity is responsible for the blessings and
calamities.
 These also tackle about irresponsibility, lust,
stupidity, deception, and fallibility that
eventually leads to instilling good morals.
 Usual Themes:
 Ceremonies needed to appease the deities
 Pre and post apocalypse
 Life and death
Folk Tales  Gods and goddesses
 Heroes and heroines
 Supernatural beings
 Animals
 Myths
 These tackle the natural to strange
occurences of the Earth and how things
Folk Tales were created with an aim to give an
explanation to things.
 Additional info: Bathala is for Tagalogs and the
Gueurang for the Bikolanos. Paradise is known as
Maca, while Hell is Kasanaan.
 Legends
 Through these, natives understood mysteries around them.
 Usually comes with a moral lesson that give credit to
supernatural powers, occurrences, and other out-of-this-world
native imagination.

Folk Tales
Fables
 Short or brief stories that cater the native Filipino children
 Usually bounded by good manners and right conduct
 Use animals as characters to represent a particular value or
characteristic
 Epics
 These are lengthy narratives that are
based on oral traditions.
Folk Tales
 Contain encounters of fighters,
stereotypical princes or heroes that save a
damsel in distress.
 Examples:
Myths
The Story of Bathala
Ang Pag-aaway in Dagat at Langit
Legends
The Legend of Maria Makiling
Folk Tales The Legend of Pinya
Fables
Ang Koneho at ang Pagong
The Grasshopper and the Ants
Epics
Hinalawod
Biag ni Lam-ang
Spanish Period
1565 - 1898
  Spanish colonization of the Philippines
started in 1565 during the time of Miguel
Lopez de Legaspi, the first Spanish
Spanish governor-general in the Philippines.
Literature started to flourish during his
Period time.
 The Filipinos were then called “Ladinos”,
meaning they were latinized.
  Filipinos were called two things: “Taga-
bayan” and “Taga-bukid” or “Taga-
bundok”
 A taga-bayan is considered urbane and
Spanish civilized and were easy range of the
Period church and state.
 A taga-bukid or taga-bundok “Bruto
Savage” (Savage Brute) or Indio, and
were the ones who lived far from the
center of the Spanish power.
 Religious Literature
 Pasyon
 Senakulo
 Komedya
Forms of Secular or Non-Religious Literature

Literature  Awit
 Korido
 Prose Narratives
Propaganda Literature
Revolutionary Literature
Religious  Revolves around the life and death of
Literature Jesus Christ
 Pasyon
 It is about the passion (journey and suffering) and the death
of Jesus Christ.

Senakulo
Religious  It is the re-enactment of the Pasyon.
Literature
Komedya
 It depicts the European society through love and fame, but
can also be a narrative about a journey.
 Considered religious because it usually depicts the battle
between the Christians and the Saracens or the Moros.
Secular or Non-  Revolves around tales of valiance and
Religious adventure.
Literature
 Awit
 These are tales of chivalry where knight saves a princess.
Florante at Laura is a good example.

Secular or Non- Korido

 A metrical tale or a tale that follows the structure of a poem.
Religious
Literature
Prose Narratives
 These are easy to understand instructions intended to teach
Filipinos on proper decorum but in the literary light.
Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at Feliza is
a good example.
  These were in the forms of satire,
editorials and new articles that aimed to
Propaganda attack the Spanish rule.
Literature  The propaganda trinity composed of Dr.
Jose Rizal, Marcel H. Del Pilar, and
Graciano Lopez Jaena.
 Examples:
Graciano Lopez Jaena
 Ang Fray Botod – written in Jaro, Iloilo
Propaganda in 1876, six years after the Cavite Revolt.
Literature He exposed how some of the friars were
greedy, ambitious and immoral.
 La Hija Del Fraile and Everything is
Hambug – explains the tragedy of
marrying a Spaniard.
 Examples:
Marcelo H. Del Pilar
 Kaiingat Kayo (Be Careful) – a humorous and
sarcastic answer to Fr. Jose Rodriguez in the novel
Propaganda Noli Mi Tangere. This was published in Barcelona in
1888. He used Dolores Manapat as pen-name here.
Literature
 Dasalan at Tuksohan (Prayers and Jokes) – similar
to catechism but sarcastically done. Because of this
Del Pilar was called “filibuster.” This work is done in
admirable tone of supplication and excellent use of
Tagalog.
 Example:
Marcelo H. Del Pilar
Propaganda  Ang Kadakilaan ng Dios (God’s Greatness) –
Literature also like a catechism sarcastically done against
the parish priests. It also contains a philosophy
of the power and intelligence of God and an
appreciation and love for nature.
 Example:
Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Propaganda  Noli Mi Tangere – this was the novel that gave
Literature spirit to the propaganda movement and paved
the way to the revolution against Spain. He
courageously exposed the evils in the Spanish-
run government in the Philippines.
  These are literary works that sparked the
Revolutionary
revolution and resistance in the hearts of
Literature
the Filipinos.
 Examples:
Andres Bonifacio
 Katungkulang Gagawin in mga Anak ng
Bayan (Obligations of our Countrymen) – an
Revolutionary outline of obligations like the Ten
Literature Commandments. It is also called Ang Dekalogo.
 Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog (What
the Tagalogs Should Know) – an essay
outlining the basic tenets of Bonifacio’s ideas on
nationalism.
 Example:
Emilio Jacinto
Revolutionary  Liwanag at Dilim (Light and Darkness) – a
Literature collection of essays on different subjects like
freedom, work, faith, government, and love for
the country.
 Example:
Apolinario Mabini
 El Desarollo y Caida de la Republica Filipina
Revolutionary (The Rise and Fall of the Philippine
Literature Republic) – this essay highlights the
establishment of the Philippine republic and its
subsequent doom due to the disunity among the
Filipinos.
 Example:
Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Revolutionary  El Filibusterismo – this is a sequel to the Noli
Literature Mi Tangere. This exposed those in the
government and the church. However, the Noli
has been dubbed the novel society while that of
El Fili is that of politics.
 Publications:
 El Heraldo de la Revolucion (Herald of the
Revolution) – printed the decrees of the
Revolutionary Government, news and works in
Revolutionary Tagalog that aroused nationalism. This is the
Literature official newspaper of the revolutionary
government of Aguinaldo.
 La Independencia (The Independence) – an
independent newspaper founded and edited by
General Antonio Luna.
 Publications:
 La Republica Filipina (The Philippine
Revolutionary Republic) – a private newspaper edited by
Literature Pedro Paterno.
 La Libertad (The Liberty) – another private
newspaper edited by Clemente Zulueta.
American Period
1900 - 1942
  The Philippines had a great leap in
Education and Culture.
American  The use of English alongside Filipino was
Period practiced.
 The Philippine Public School System was
introduced.
  Free public school instruction was given
to the Filipinos.
American  Literature was considered imitative of the
Period American model. Instead of asking the
students to write originals, they follow the
form of American poets.
  Poetry – during the American rule, poetry
followed the style of the old, but had contents
that ranged from free writing to societal
concerns under the Americans.
Forms of  Drama – was used to degrade the Spanish rule
Literature and to immortalize the heroism of the men who
fought under the Katipunan.
 Remake Novels – took up Dr. Jose Rizal’s
portrayal of social conditions by colonial
repression.
 Jose Corazon de Jesus (1832 – 1896)
 Popularly known as “Batute”, who created his own generation with
his first book of poems.

Mga Gintong Dahon (1920)

 Were poems about non-traditional themes such as passion-slaying,
Poetry grief-induced, insanity, and lover’s suicide.

Sa Dakong Silangan (1928)

 Returned to the awit form
 Retold the history of the Philippines under the Spain, the coming of
the U.S. under the guise of friendship to take Philippines from
Spain
 Severino Reyes (1861 – 1942)
 Spearheaded a movement to supplant Komedya with a
new type of drama, the Sarsuwela – a Filipino
adaptation of the Spanish Zarzuela
Drama Example:
Walang Sugat (1902)
 A sarsuwela drawn from the period of revolution,
depicting the cruelty and corruption of friars and the
heroism of the soldiers of the Katipunan.
 Other successful sarsuwelas:

Hindi Ako Patay (1903) by Juan Matapang Cruz

Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (1903) by Aurelio
Tolentino
Drama  An allegorical presentation of the history of the national
struggle and how the U.S. frustrated the Philippine
revolution.
Tanikalang Ginto (1902) by Juan Abad
 About Liwanag and K’Ulayaw, lovers who stood for
freedom and the Filipinos
 Gabriel Beato Francisco (1850-1935)
 Best known for his trilogy of Fulgencia Galbillo
(1907), Capitan Bensio (1907), and Alfaro
(1909), depicting the 30 years of colonial
Remake repression by the Spaniards.
Novels Inigo Ed. Regalado (1888-1976)
 Madaling Araw (1909) was his first novel
showing the complex interrelation of issues and
people in the contemporary Philippine society.
 Juan Lauro Arciwals (1889-1928)
Remake  Lalaking Uliran o Tulisan (1914), allusion to the
Novels colonial law that branded Filipino patriots as
bandits.